Justo de Santa María de Oro y Albarracín (3 March 1772–19 October 1836) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

statesman and bishop. He was an influential representative in the

Congress of Tucumán The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly, initially meeting in San Miguel de Tucumán, that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on July 9, 1816, ...

, which on 9 July 1816, declared the

Independence of Argentina The Independence of the Argentine Republic (or ''La Independencia de Argentina'' in spanish) was declared on July 9, 1816, by the Congress of Tucumán. In reality, the congressmen who were assembled in Tucumán declared the independence ...

. Santa María de Oro was born in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

. His father was Juan Miguel de Oro Bustamante y Cossio, and his mother Elena de Albarracín y Ladrón de Guevara. He was educated at the Convent of Santo Domingo, then went to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to enter the Convent of Santo Domingo of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. He gained his doctorate at the

Royal University of San Felipe The Royal University of San Felipe () was a university created by Philip V of Spain, King Philip V in 1738, in territory which was then part of the Kingdom of Spain. It was officially founded in Santiago in 1747 and began teaching activities in ...

, and by the age of 20 was already teaching theology. At 21 he was ordained by Bishop Sobrino y Minayo. In 1814 he crossed the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

with many Chilean patriots and met General

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...

; they became friends and collaborators. He helped to found and equip the

Army of the Andes The Army of the Andes () was a military force created by the United Provinces of South America, United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Argentina) and assembled by General José de San Martín as part of his campaign to liberate Chile from the S ...

. In 1815, Santa María de Oro was elected by San Juan to the

and served in 1816 for the declaration. He was firmly in favour of a republic and opposed those who wanted a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

, also believing that the people should decide. Santa María de Oro returned to San Juan and then to Chile where he was appointed

Provincial superior A provincial superior is an officer of a religious institute (including religious orders) acting under the institute's Superior General. A provincial superior exercises general supervision over all the members of that institute in a territorial ...

of his order. In 1828 he was appointed by the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

Apostolic Vicar Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

in San Juan, part of the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of Córdoba. In 1830 he became Bishop of Taumaco and in 1834 the first Bishop of the newly created Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan de Cuyo. Santa María de Oro was a second cousin to

Domingo Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the ''1837 generation, Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19t ...

, President of Argentina between 1868 and 1874.

External links

Memories of Friar Justo
by

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria de Oro, Justo de 1772 births 1836 deaths Members of the Congress of Tucumán People from San Juan Province, Argentina 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Argentina People of the Argentine War of Independence Roman Catholic bishops of San Juan de Cuyo